An earlier German court ruling banning iCloud and MobileMe push e-mail service in that country has been upheld.

The Mannheim Regional Court today ordered the ban to continue, claiming that the push e-mail service found in Apple's iCloud and MobileMe violates patents Motorola Mobility holds. In addition, Dow Jones, which first reported on the story, says the court ordered Apple to pay Motorola damages, but did not specify how much.

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"Affected customers will still receive iCloud and MobileMe e-mail, but new messages will be downloaded to their devices when the Mail app is opened, or when their device periodically fetches new messages as configured in iOS Settings," Apple wrote to customers. "Push email service on desktop computers, laptop computers, and the Web is unaffected, as is service from other providers such as Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync."

Apple has said that it believes the ruling is "invalid," and appealed the earlier ruling, which brought the case to the Mannheim court. Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment on what its next move might be to try to restore push e-mail across Germany.

Update 9:52 a.m. PT: And Apple is, predictably, sticking to its guns. In a statement it sent to AllThingsD, the company said it disagrees with the court's decision and plans to appeal this latest ruling. And Apple wants potential customers to know that "the court's decision does not impact product availability."

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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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